Filip Habram

"The young generation feels that a better world is coming with them.
Old Guard feels the better world is leaving with them."(Charles Dickens)

Many of you have surely wondered why I have chosen this quote in the beginning. The answer is quite simple.  It's because my expectations that for the first view it is truly serious problem but for the second view I think everyone of us remind itself in one of the group mentioned above. Yes, this quote is pretty close to the reality.

Although this idea was said by Mr. Dickens before more than half a century, it is still current. What's more, it was current hundreds years before too. Generational issues have always been, still are and always will be. The question is, why the young and the old squabble for many millennia.

Remember your youth when you could hear from your parents and grandparents phrases like "When I was young we have done differently." Or "Everything used to be better." Old generations are simply too conservative and unwilling, or perhaps unable to accept new trends. To deal with the new things is the privilege for the youth. Whether we like it or not, for a young man it is much easier to follow the time changes.

In contrast, the young contradict by the words "Today is everything different, you cannot understand." And reject the views and experiences of older generations as something that may have been true once upon a time, but in today's "other times“definitely not. Isn´t there a right for the elderly people to feel left out? In my opinion the problem is in the experience. Old people are simply too experienced so they can not take life easily as the young. On the other hand the young are less experienced to take life seriously. Many young people live only day by day and not bother too much.  

The most alarming finding is the fact that differences between generations will be more and more widespread, which is clearly due to the fast development. Let's look at the curve of the human civilization, we can find rises it more steeply because of the most discoveries has been made ​​in the last few centuries. Therefore the elderly has no chance to keep pace with their children. We can ask ourselves if we will be enough smart to understand the life of our children within few decades.

We asked a few questions to local people in Verona and Cyprus , which we thought could be suitable for our research for the future of the project, see below just 5 answers, which are very interesting:

QUESTION:

"The reason of the generation gap". Is it caused by young or old generation? Give 3 reasons why you see it is caused by the old or young people. – 5 answers were pretty interesting, see below

ANSWERS:

1. It is more a reflection of the way that society changes. Opinions change - for instance the growing acceptance of diversity in response to a rapidly globalizing society has caused us to look at different belief systems with more of an open mind those past generations. Look at the transition from slavery to equality. People believed that slavery and discrimination were okay because they were socialized to believe that. It was the norm. As the norm changed, attitudes changed as well. Similarly, technology has changed. Today, we take the Internet and the ability to communicate instantly with anyone, anywhere for granted. It is the norm for us. For our parents and our grandparents, this was not the case. While today's youth have grown up surrounded by computers, their parents did not. As a result, the younger generation is more comfortable with technology because it has grown along with them. They do not have to learn something new. Therefore, I would argue that it is overall changes in society, from technology to government structure, religion, and belief systems or norms that causes the "gap" to exist, not individuals themselves young or old.

2. Generation gap refers to the differences in ways of thinking and behaving that exists between older people, considered to be from the earlier generation, and the younger people, considered to be from later generations. This often leads to lack of communication and understanding between people of different generations.

These different thinking of the people are shaped by the environment they face and the experiences that they go through. Particularly the impressions formed in the earlier years of the life are more enduring than the ones formed later in life. Thus the impressions and feelings developed by older generation do not change that easily with changing times. At the same time the younger generations that have never been exposed to the environment of faced by the earlier generation are no able to appreciate the impact of such environment. For example, people who lived through the depression learnt to put great importance on material possessions and financial security. Most people who grew up in later periods had no idea of what it is like to have to struggle for money and job. They felt baffled by the great importance put by their parents on material possession and financial security. This resulted in kind of generation gap that developed during 1960's.

From the above discussion it is clear that neither young nor old generation could be held responsible for the generation. It is the changing environment, faced by different generation that causes generation gap. If at all we have to hold one of the two generation responsible, I would choose the older generation, as they have greater power to shape the thinking of their children. The elders could also take special care to educate younger generation on their past and its effect on their thinking.

3. I don't see the generation gap as being necessarily caused by one side or the other. Rather, I think it's a result of how one group perceives reality or consciousness over another. It has to do with a culture that is defined by age and the values that such an age based culture share. The perceptions and understandings that each culture have are not something that automatically makes one to blame over another, but rather is a statement of reality that has to be understood and accepted as part of the condition of being within a multigenerational and heterogeneous setting.

4. I'd argue that the generation gap is caused by both the old and the young. It really is about communication. There is essentially too much miscommunication between the two groups because their culture and experiences are too different for them to understand each other.

5. I would suggest that older people have learned that maintaining a connection between generations is extremely difficult and they have a (wise) tendency to give up on trying to stay connected to the culture of teenagers when they are well past their own teenaged years.